


in our bed of broken glass

by rosedvst



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Relationship, First Kiss, Gratuitous Hand-Holding, M/M, Marriage, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 08, Sharing a Bed, Vignettes, s8 hasnt evened dropped yet and im already writing fix it fics :/
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-08-25 16:24:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16664158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosedvst/pseuds/rosedvst
Summary: “You’re beautiful,” Lance breathes, words slurred and slow like they’re being spoken through honey and syrup and all things sickeningly sweet.No, I’m not, Keith thinks.You don’t mean that, Keith thinks.“I love you,” Keith says instead.





	in our bed of broken glass

**Author's Note:**

> hello it's me again!!  
> -i usually write little happy fics so i wanted to try writing something with a more melancholic tone (for the most part lmfao). i hope it worked?  
> -also wanted to explore post-canon and lance and keith's feelings about their places in the universe, assuming that everyone stays on earth while allura goes to lead the altean colony (w/ romelle owo)  
> -i just know s8 is gonna destroy us emotionally and do the characters zero justice so i had to get this out before dec 14 in case anyone wanted some comfort afterwards  
> -title taken from harry styles' Don't Let Me Go because it still makes me emotional to this day  
> i hope u enjoy!  
> EDIT: this was written before s8 dropped so if ur reading this please ignore any events that transpired during s8. thank u!

Four months after the Galra’s galaxy-wide defeat, Keith takes a knife to his hair. He ends up cutting most of it off, and he watches as the loose locks fall into the sterile sink of his Garrison dorm bathroom. The back of his neck is now bare and exposed, but he keeps his bangs long  and lets them hang in front of his eyes. It feels odd, but it's a change; something that Keith has been in desperate need of.

These past couple of months have been rough.

Leaving space after having explored its depths for a good two years--not counting his time in the quantum abyss--had been jarring. Every day that Keith wakes up, he expects to crack open his eyes and see glowing blue lights and steely walls. He expects to be able to put on his cropped red jacket, and slide his knife into the sheath on his belt, and walk out into the control room of the castleship, where the dark expanse of space would be waiting for him.

But instead, he’s here on Earth. Earth, his home planet, the one with beautiful red skies and blue seas and green grasses that greet Keith like an old friend. Earth, the place where he was born and raised. The place where he found the beginnings of a home in an older brother, in a desert, in a pulsing blue energy that called him to come looking.

Instead, he’s here on Earth, and he feels incomplete.

It’s not like everything about his life has changed, though; he still has most of his team, with the exception of Allura and Romelle, who left as soon as the battle with Haggar had ended to lead the Altean colony. They all still make efforts to see one another despite their busy schedules, but--but it’s different. It’s different because they no longer have to worry about the Galra. It’s different because they no longer have to run missions where they infiltrate bases, and rescue innocent alien citizens, and save the universe time after time again.

It’s different, and Keith hates it.

It’s different, and Keith hates himself; hates himself because of how much he misses the past couple of years. He should not miss the routine of a war that pulled him in and didn’t let go until he was too far gone to go back. And yet, he does anyways, and the desire to go back in time threads painfully through his heart.

Now, he stares at himself in the mirror above the sink. Cutting off his hair was supposed to make him feel more secure, more in control. But as he looks at himself, all he can think is that he looks twelve again, with a chipped tooth and scraped elbows and a deep, unrelenting desire to see the white hot flare of the cosmos that shine in the night sky.

The tears begin to fall and his body begins to shake as he sinks to the tiled bathroom floor.

 

The following morning, after rubbing the traces of sadness from his eyes, Keith walks into the lounge that the paladins have adopted as their makeshift castleship lounge 2.0, and is met with shocked stares. He self-consciously rubs the back of his neck, eyes downcast and feet scuffing along the linoleum floor before he takes a seat next to a gaping Hunk.

“You cut your hair!” Hunk exclaims, lifting a hand up to run his fingers through the short hairs at the back of Keith’s head. Keith lets him, because it’s Hunk. Keith had always had a problem with touch--there was always too much of it, and yet, never enough--but when Hunk touches him it is a friendly gesture, familiar and comfortable and welcome.

 _Yes, I did,_ Keith thinks. “Yeah,” Keith says in response.

“It looks good, man,” Pidge says, sparing a glance at Keith before returning to typing furiously on her tablet screen.

 _No, it doesn’t. I already regret cutting it,_ Keith thinks _._ “Thank you,” Keith says.

“Why’d you cut it?” Lance asks from the other couch. There is something in his eyes that tells Keith that he knows the truth.

 _Because my fingers wouldn’t stop itching for the handle of my knife, and I had to cut something._ “Just… Felt like it was getting too long. Needed a change.”

Lance nods like that’s an acceptable answer, but Keith can feel his wary eyes on the back of his neck as everyone disperses to take care of their separate duties and responsibilities.

 

* * *

 

 

Five months into the paladins’ return to Earth, Keith receives a pinging notification on the comms device that he keeps placed on his desk.

It is almost 2 o’clock in the morning, and Keith is still wide awake. He hasn’t been able to sleep all that much recently; then again, it’s not like he really needs it. Maybe it’s his alien biology or something like that, but despite how much sleep evades Keith during the night, he manages to function perfectly well the following day. He neglects to tell anyone this, and still turns in at the same time as everyone else, and spends most of the night looking out the window at the bright stars and black skies.

He is lying wide awake is in bed when the alarm goes off. Keith sits up and looks at the device, the one that Krolia had given him before she had departed from Earth to go help run the Blade of Marmora with Kolivan. As they were saying their goodbyes, she had handed it to him wordlessly, but the look in her eyes had told him everything that he needed to know. It said, _Be ready_. It said, _This is not the end._  It said, _I will be seeing you soon._

A series of beeps sounds into the otherwise quiet room, echoing off of bare walls. Keith counts them in his head as he lays there, translating them into the Galran code that Krolia had taught him way back in the quantum abyss.

The message says: _Urgent. Assistance needed. Large-scale mission. Rescuing civilians._

Then, numbers. Coordinates. Keith listens, commits the numbers to memory until the message peters out and the beeps come to a stop.

The Blade needs help running a big mission. All it would be is saving civilians from the remnants of the Galra empire that somehow still stand. Nothing too big. But it was a chance to get back out there.

Keith is up out of his bed and packing a bag without a second thought.

 

(He wonders, briefly, as he slips his boots on, if he is letting the Blade become his excuse for his inevitable escape back into space.

He knows the answer. He leaves his Garrison room anyway.)

 

Keith decides to make a brief stop before he departs on the mission. It is almost three a.m. now, and he wonders if Shiro will even be awake, but the light underneath his door is still on, so Keith takes his chances and gives it a quick knock.

Shiro opens the door a few moments later, and he’s practically glowing; he has been ever since he returned to Earth and reunited with his fiance, now turned husband. Keith knows that as of this moment, he has everything that he has ever wanted; his blood family and his found family, the love of his life and his little brother, a world free of the Galra and their tyrannical rule. He is happy now. Keith wishes that his happiness will last forever.

“Hey, Keith. What brings you here so late?” Shiro asks.

Keith looks up and meets his eyes; he can see the exact moment that Shiro realizes what Keith is doing. His eyes flit over Keith’s face, and his packed bag, and the steely expression he must be wearing.

“I,” Keith starts. “I’m leaving, Shiro.” He says it all at once and right at the beginning of their conversation, because Keith is blunt and to-the-point and he knows that ripping the bandaid off is better than stalling. He’s known that his whole life. But knowing this doesn’t lessen the stinging that he feels in his heart when Shiro’s face falls.

Shiro sighs, leaning up against the door frame. He crosses his arms. “Can’t say I didn’t see this coming.”

Keith tenses at that, clenching his jaw. “I’m not doing this because I want to leave you guys,” He protests weakly. Guilt claws at his chest. “I just… I know that if I stay here, then I may never get the chance to leave again.”

Shiro looks at him for a long moment, expression unreadable. Then he huffs out a soft sound and nods.

“I know, Keith,” He says, and despite the situation, there is humor in his voice, and understanding in his eyes. “I think even before I knew you were half alien, I knew that you weren’t meant to stay on Earth. Your life is waiting for you, out there in the stars. I was just wondering how long it would take for you to realize that.”

Keith swallows thickly. “It took me five months and a haircut,” He says, voice cracking. He scrubs at his face. “I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

“Okay,” Shiro says, bittersweet smile on his face. “You better call regularly. Keep me and Adam and the rest of the team updated on how you’re doing.”

“Of course.” Keith pauses for a moment, takes a deep breath. “I’ll miss you.”

Shiro chuckles. “I’ll miss you too, little brother.” Then he’s pulling Keith in for a long hug. Keith feels the last of the tension leave his body as he slumps into Shiro’s solid frame. “Stay safe out there. And please do not get abducted by aliens. You’ll reappear a year later with nothing but a gaggle of teenagers and a missing arm.”

“That’s not funny,” Keith says, but he’s smiling.

“I’m not laughing,” Shiro replies, but he’s smiling too. He ruffles Keith’s hair good-naturedly, one last time.

Keith can feel Shiro’s eyes on his back as he turns and departs down the hall without another word.

 

Keith gets as far as the elevator to the Garrison’s hangar before he is intercepted. The doors slide open and he comes face to face with Lance.

Lance, with wide panicked eyes and messy curls.

Lance, with rigid posture and a mouth parted in surprise.

Lance, with a bag slung over his back and paladin helmet in hand.

They both freeze and stare at one another. Keith takes Lance in. Lance is in his old jeans and his worn olive jacket, and his shoulders suddenly seem broader, and his legs longer, and his clothes don’t seem as baggy or ill-fitting anymore--they fit him better now, hanging on his limbs in a way that suggests the shape of firm muscle and bone underneath, instead of the lankiness that he had carried with him throughout their formative years in space.

“Where are you going?” They both ask at once. Lance shakes his head and holds his hand out to stop the elevator doors from automatically closing on Keith.

“Oh, no you don’t. Answer me first, Mullet.” Keith briefly wonders how long Lance is going to refer to him by that old nickname. It doesn’t even apply to him anymore, not after he cut off all of his hair last month. Lance doesn’t seem to care.

Keith shoots Lance a scowl. “I’m going to help the Blade. They need backup for a mission right now.” He pushes past Lance to stand next to him in the elevator. He goes to press the _H_ button on the elevator panel, but stops when he realizes that the button is already illuminated. Lance is going to the hangar too, then. Keith turns to look at him.

The annoyance that had been creasing Lance’s features smooths away, and Lance just looks… Drained, suddenly. Like he’s exhausted and barely holding it together.

“What are you doing?” Keith asks, and it comes out softer than he means it to.

Lance doesn’t answer for a moment, eyes cast off to the side. The elevator doors close. “I don’t really know,” He says, quiet and unsure. Keith stares at him in confusion. Lance bites at his lip. “I was just gonna… Get into Red and see where she took me, I guess.”

“What?” Keith says in surprise. The elevator starts its descent. “Why are you leaving?”

Lance narrows his eyes and sets his jaw. “I don’t know, why are _you_ leaving, Mr. Team Leader?”

And as much as Keith hates to say it, Lance has a point. Keith shouldn’t be leaving. Because of Shiro’s severed connection with Black, he’s the only person that can pilot her, and in the event that Voltron is needed to stop some new intergalactic threat, he’d be pretty far out of reach of Earth.

“I,” Keith mumbles despite himself. “I can’t stay here, anymore.”

Lance takes a moment to process that, brows raised high. Then he squints at Keith angrily. “What the hell. Why not?” He bites out.  
“I don’t expect you to understand,” Keith shoots back, because the entire time they were up in space, Lance had talked of returning to Earth with bright eyes and hopeful smiles. He had talked of seeing his family again, and returning to the Garrison, and going back to Varadero, to the beach where he had grown up. He is back where he belongs, now, and Keith doesn’t know why he plans on leaving, but it can’t be for the same reason as Keith’s. It’s impossible.

Lance nudges at Keith’s shoulder. “Then spell it out for me,” He says.

“I can’t stay on Earth,” Keith begins, voice hot and low and angry, “Because it’s so normal, and boring, and I feel this itch under my skin that I can’t get rid of. I can’t stay here anymore because I feel space calling me to come back, and Earth doesn’t ground me anymore, not like it used to. So call me selfish, or a terrible leader, or whatever the hell you think of me. But I’m going to go back out there and help out those innocent people.”

Keith turns back to face the elevator doors, unwilling to look at Lance. He can feel Lance’s eyes burning on the side of his face, see Lance’s mouth opening and closing in his peripherals.

“Keith, I--” Lance falters. “I… Me, too. I get what you mean.” Keith whips his head up in surprise. Lance looks down at his feet. “I thought I would be happy now that I’m back home, with my family and friends on my home planet, but I… I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss space. I miss helping people, and going on missions, and the fucking castleship. I miss how things were.”

Silence ensues. Keith doesn’t know how to respond, and Lance stares at the ground miserably, and they’re quite a pair; both reluctantly on Earth with only the burning desire to get back out into the stars grounding them.

“Saving people… It’s what I was good at,” Lance begins again, softer this time. “And now that the Galra are defeated on Earth, there’s no need for fighter pilots, and I won’t be a fucking _cargo pilot_ for the Garrison. Not after everything.”

The elevator pings and the doors open. The hangar sits before them, wide open and dark, planes and jets and fighters of all different kinds sitting in wait. The lions are lined up here, too; dormant and resting and grey with disuse.

Neither Lance or Keith make a move.

“Come with me,” Keith blurts suddenly. “Come with me to the Blade. Run the mission with me.” And, Oh God, where did that even come from? Lance is looking at him with round eyes now, mouth parted and eyebrows raised in shock. _Fuck_.

Keith opens his mouth, thinking of all of the words he could use backtrack, to take back what he has just said, but then Lance is saying, “Okay,” like it’s the easiest thing in the world.

Keith pauses. “What?”

“Okay,” Lance repeats, and he is hiking his bag up higher on his shoulder and starting off towards the lions.

Keith stands rooted in the spot, speechless. Lance turns back, something glinting in his eyes.

“You coming, hotshot?”

Keith stares at him for a moment longer, and then he takes off after Lance.

 

* * *

 

 

They take Red.

There isn’t a spoken agreement about which lion they would be taking, but it seems like the most rational plan; both Lance and Keith have a connection to Red, and they can take turns flying her if they wanted to. Something tells Keith that Lance will have a hard time giving up the pilot’s seat, though, judging by the way he slides into the chair and grins when the cockpit lights up.

“It’s gonna take a while,” Keith says, setting his stuff down. “Red is fast but the planet is kinda on the other side of the universe, so… I’d say we’re gonna be travelling for a couple of days. We can make stops on planets allied with the coalition along the way, get some rest and food before taking off again.”

“Sounds good.” Lance pulls on the controls and Red stands up, letting out a deafening roar over the sound of her rusted metal groaning. Lance whoops.

“We definitely just woke up everyone in the building,” Keith grumbles as he comes to stand behind the pilot’s chair.

“Aw, cheer up, cherry blossom, we’re about to go back into space again for the first time in months!”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Sure thing, sunshine.” Lance yanks on the controls, and Red takes off, flying out of the open hangar doors and into the dark of the night.

 

* * *

 

 

A day into their voyage, the cockpit is suddenly echoing with the ringing of the Red Lion’s communications system. The screen flashes with Shiro’s name.

Lance curses under his breath. “Uh, Keith?” He asks, twiddling his thumbs.

“What,” Keith says, already knowing where this conversation is going.

“I, uh. I maybe sort of… Forgot to tell anyone that I was leaving?”

Keith groans and scrubs at his face. “Fuck. Me too. The only person that I told is Shiro.”

“Is there anyway we can just send him to voicemail so that I can avoid the confrontation that is about to happen?”

Keith bites his lip, considering his options. But then he goes to press the answer button and Lance is hissing at him to _Please Not Do that, Keith, They’re Going to Kill Me_ , but Keith presses it anyway and goes to stand behind the pilot’s seat as the video feed connects.

Shiro’s face pops up, front and center. It’s not just Shiro in the screen, though; it’s Adam, which Keith had expected, but also Hunk and Pidge and Coran. They look at Keith, and then at Lance in the pilot seat, and all hell breaks loose as they all speak at once.

“What are you two doing?” Hunk exclaims, throwing his hands up into the air. “We were worried sick because you guys just suddenly disappeared and we couldn’t find you anywhere! I almost had an aneurysm before Shiro told us where Keith was going!”.

“But even then, we had no idea that Lance was leaving too,” Pidge interjects, annoyance coating her voice.

Coran pulls at his moustache. “I am glad to see you two are alright. But it is unwise, taking the Red Lion away from the others. Voltron cannot be formed in a moment’s notice, should it be needed.”

“We’re worried about you,” Adam says, voice kind. “I’m more specifically worried that the two of you are gonna send Takashi into cardiac arrest with how much you’re stressing him out.”

“Hey,” Shiro protests. “There are a lot of reasons for me to be stressing out. Lance and Keith are dangerous when it’s just the two of them, alone.”

“Yeah, given that they share only one brain cell.” Pidge mutters, rubbing her eyes underneath her glasses.

“She’s not wrong,” Keith agrees quietly. Lance makes a noise of protest. Hunk squawks.

“You shouldn’t be agreeing with us!” Hunk says. “Now we’re gonna be even more worried.”

Lance shakes his head. “Guys, relax. Me and Keith are just gonna go on a short mission to help the Blade. It’s low risk and no fighting should be necessary. We brought our paladin armor and bayards just in case. We’ll be finished with the mission and back before you know it.”

Everyone on the other side of the screen visibly relaxes with Lance’s reassurance.  Keith sometimes forgets about how Lance can put everyone at ease with a few simple words in his calm voice.

Hunk point a finger at them. “You better call regularly,” He says threateningly.

Lance laughs. “‘Course, buddy. Wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise.”

“Also, please don’t do anything stupid,” Pidge says. “I know the two of you are stubborn and reckless and you like to do all sorts of dangerous things. Please don’t make us worry.”

Keith nods. “Sure, Pidge.”

“Say hi to Krolia and Kolivan for me,” Shiro says. “And stay safe out there. You never know what could happen.”

They both nod.

Everyone says their goodbyes soon after, and the call disconnects, and all that is left in the Red Lion’s cockpit is the static from the screen and the feeling that Keith was in way over his head.

 

* * *

 

 

“Why did you really cut your hair?” Lance asks on the third day of their journey, sitting in the pilot’s seat with his feet propped up on the dashboard. He is wearing comfy clothes, a pair of grey sweats and a soft t-shirt. Keith sits in a seat further back in the cockpit in the secondary seating that Red provides and pointedly does not note how warm Lance currently looks.

Keith frowns. He thinks of all of the things he could say, all of the excuses he has come up with to tell his teammates. But honestly, he’s tired and hurting and there is this weight on his chest that he desperately wants to get off. So he tells Lance.

“I haven’t felt like myself ever since we settled on Earth,” Keith says. “I thought that if I did something like that, I’d feel more in control of myself. But… It didn’t help.”

Lance doesn’t answer, just looks at Keith thoughtfully.

“I know…” Keith continues. “I know it looks bad. I kinda regret cutting it. But I think… I would have done it, at one point or another.”

Lance looks at him for a long moment. “I don’t think it looks bad. I just miss your mullet,” He says, and there is a sincerity in his voice that makes Keith’s stomach flutter. Then he reaches over and pushes the bangs out of Keith’s eyes.

“Oh,” Keith says. He is painfully aware of how heated his face is right now. “Okay.”

A silence lapses between them.

“Thank you,” Keith says eventually, almost an afterthought.

“No problem,” Lance says, quiet. The glow from the Red Lion’s lights catches on Lance’s features, pooling in the hollows of his cheeks. The starlight from the galaxy they are flying through creates nebulas in Lance’s eyes.

 

(And Keith’s mind blanks, because--

Because Lance is beautiful.

Keith has always known that Lance is beautiful; he’s known it since the very first moment that he met Lance, when he was all fire and quick-witted remarks and long limbs and good humor. He’s known it throughout their journey, when Lance had slowly revealed himself to be the opposite of what Keith had initially thought. Yes, Lance was still fiery and witty and smart, but there were so many layers to his personality that Keith wasn’t even able to completely comprehend at the time.

Lance is beautiful for different reasons, now.

Lance is beautiful because the amount of love he has to give seems endless in its abundance.

Lance is beautiful because he always has the right words to say to make everyone feel safe and happy.

Lance is beautiful because he has scars which mark and discolor his skin, and they tell stories of his heroism and his bravery and all of the sacrifices he has made so that others could live.

Lance is beautiful because he is unapologetically and unrestrictedly himself, despite the odds and despite the conditions.

Keith tells himself that the feeling that he gets whenever he sees Lance in a new way is envy, and jealousy, and annoyance. But every time Lance is cast in a different, beautiful light, Keith can feel himself falling even further.

Deep down, he knows the truth.)

 

* * *

 

 

There is something Lance is hiding.

It’s not hard to figure out. It’s in the way he chews on his bottom lip; in the way he rubs circles into his own palms; in the way his foot taps erratically on the flooring of the Red Lion.

“You’re not okay,” Keith says aloud, in the comfortable silence that has enveloped the both of them.

Lance doesn’t look at Keith. He keeps his hands on the controls and his eyes in front of him. “I’m fine,” He says, offhanded and nonchalant.

Keith frowns at the blatant lie. “No, you’re not.”

“What do _you_ know, Keith?” Lance shoots back quietly. The beginnings of anger are seeping back into his words, and Keith hates it. He hates that he has the ability to make Lance so angry in such a short span of time. But then again, this is what they know--they yell and bare teeth and snipe at each other with dumb remarks because it’s what they do best.

“I know how you get when you’re going through something. You deflect and avoid talking about it.”

“I’m not deflecting,” Lance protests. “Stop psychoanalyzing me.”

Keith rolls his eyes. “You deflected just now. What’s going on? I’m not going to stop asking, Lance.”

Lance slams a button on Red’s dashboard and lets go of her controls before standing up and facing Keith. “It doesn’t matter,” He says emphatically. “None of it matters.”

“Of course it matters,” Keith uncrosses his arms and stands up, taking a step closer to Lance. “Your feelings matter, you dumbass.”

Lance looks to the side and clenches his jaw. “Maybe if my feelings mattered then you wouldn’t call me a dumbass,” He retorts weakly.

Keith reaches out and gently grabs onto Lance’s elbows. “C’mon, Lance,” He says softly. “You know I don’t mean it.”

“I don’t… I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know how to deal with this.”

Keith tilts his head. “What do you mean?”

“She left.”

Keith stares for a moment, confused, and then--Oh.

 _Oh_.

Keith feels something flare up within him, hot and ugly and bright, before he manages to tame it, to push it down. Jealousy. He shouldn’t be feeling that. There is no place for it in his life; there is no place for jealousy and affection and love in a life full of war and abandonment and isolation.

He knows that, before she left, Allura and Lance… Had had something. It was small, and new, but it was there. There in the glances they shared, charged with a certain tension. There in the small touches and smiles. There in the way Lance looked at Allura, and only Allura.

And then they defeated Haggar, and all of the leftover Alteans needed a new leader. Despite Allura no longer having her crown, she adopted her role as queen as easily as she had settled into her role as Blue Paladin. And she left. Departed with Romelle to go to the colony with a few splintered goodbyes. She left them, left Lance, and he was left on Earth.

“You still… Like her?” Keith asks slowly, thickly. _Way to go, Kogane_ , a voice in the back of his head is saying. _You definitely hid your feelings well._

“I don’t know!” Lance bursts, running his hands through his hair. “I don’t know! I know that I liked her a lot, before she left. Before we defeated the Galra. Hell, even before Lotor. But I didn’t know how to handle it. And now she’s gone, and I don’t know what I feel.”

Silence.

Lance takes a shaky breath. “I know… I know that I miss her. But I don’t think I feel the same way as I used to, and it’s killing me, because what the hell am I supposed to feel now?”

Keith doesn’t know what to say to that, so he doesn’t respond. Lance plops back down in the pilot’s chair.

“At least you have someone,” Lance bites out miserably.

Confusion runs over Keith’s mind in waves. “What?” He says stupidly, because he has no idea what Lance is talking about.

“You have someone,” Lance squints as Keith stares back blankly. “Acxa? Aren’t you two in love or something? Gonna get married and have tons of little half Galra babies?”

Keith honestly feels like he’s short circuiting. “What?” He says again, because he’s a huge dumbass and he needs to take several moments to process the entirety of what Lance just said.

“You and Acxa? I thought that was part of the reason why you are going on this whole mission to begin with. Because she’s with the Blade now, and she’s gonna be there, and you’ll be reunited with your girlfriend or whatever.”

Keith feels like he’s gonna break into hysterics. “Lance, what?”

“Keith, I don’t see what’s hard to understand here,” Lance says. “You and Acxa? Together forever?”

Keith stares at him for another long moment. “I don’t love Acxa,” He says slowly, deliberately.

Lance gives him a once over. “You sure about that? You were giving each other the eyes way back when she saved our asses from the other Galra generals. Don’t think I didn’t notice, Kogane.”

Keith splutters. “What-- _yes_ \--Lance, you--oh my God.” Keith scrubs a hand over his burning face. “Lance, I’m gay.”

Silence, awkward and filled with palpable tension, ensues, and Keith can’t look up from where he is currently inspecting a spot on the Red Lion’s flooring as if it is the most interesting thing in the galaxy.

It’s apparently Lance’s turn to sound absolutely blindsided as he sputters out a, “What?”

“I’m gay?” Keith huffs. He can’t meet Lance’s eyes. “I like men? And only men? How did you not…” He runs a hand through his hair. “I thought it was so obvious!”

“What the hell Kogane, I had no idea! I thought… Oh my God,” Lance’s eyes are wide. “So when you and Allura left together in a pod that one time, you weren’t..?”

“No!” Keith exclaims. “Me and Allura have never even looked at each other in anything more than a platonic way. Are you being serious right now?”

“Of course I’m being serious right now! God, Keith, you’re so manly and cool and you always seem so sure of yourself and all the ladies love your bad boy vibes! Why the hell wouldn’t I think that Acxa and Allura liked you? Why wouldn’t I think that you’d like them back, when they’re so pretty and strong and capable?”

Keith’s mind is running way too fast to even begin to process all of the words that Lance just threw at him.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s because I was too busy trying to flirt with dumb pretty boys to notice them!”

 _Fuck_.

Lance stares at him, and then sinks into his seat in defeat. “It’s Hunk, isn’t it,” He says dramatically. “I see it now… You two have been really close lately. _Shit,_ dude, I’m sorry. Hunk and Shay are totally in love. That sucks. If it’s any consolation, if they weren’t together, then I think he would’ve liked you, too. Maybe. It really depends.”

“Oh my God, Lance. You’re gonna kill me. You will actually be the death of me.” Keith groans and slips to the ground, letting his face fall into the palms of his hands.

Lance lets out a noise of confusion. “I’m sorry? Should I not be trying to console you about your unrequited crush on Hunk?”

“I don’t have a unrequited crush on Hunk, you--I was talking about you!” Keith bursts, looking up sharply.

Lance stares at him. And stares.

“You… I… What?” He stammers, eyes wide and hands frozen.

“Let’s just drop it,” Keith grumbles, humiliation and discomfort creeping into his voice and tinging his face with a terrible blush.

“No, no, no, wait,” Lance says, and it sounds… Frantic? His eyes are wide and hands outstretched toward Keith. “You were flirting… With me?”

Keith eyes him warily, hesitant to answer. “Yes.”

“When?” Lance asks incredulously.

“When was I not?” Keith throws his hands up in exasperation.

Lance falls silent. Keith can’t stop stealing glances at Lance’s heated face.

“What the fuck,” Lance is whispering. “What the fuck. You think I’m pretty? Wait, does that mean that you still--”

“Hailing the Red Lion,” A staticky voice suddenly sounds throughout Red’s cockpit. “This is Krolia of the Blade of Marmora. Yorak, are you there?”

Keith groans, scrambles to sit up, and presses the button on Red’s dashboard that creates a video feed. Krolia’s face pops up, and she looks exactly the same, albeit more tired and stressed.

Keith can hear Lance mouthing the word “ _Yorak_ ,” under his breath, and Keith had thought he could not possibly be any more embarrassed than he was in the moments leading up to the call, and yet, here they are.

“I thought we agreed to not use my Galran name,” He says through gritted teeth, and Krolia smiles a small smile.

“You know I can’t help myself. I am excited to see you, my son. It has been quite a few movements since my last visit. Is that… The Red Paladin?”

Lance sits up and gives Krolia a small wave. “Hello, Keith’s scary Galra mom, it’s good to see you again.”

Krolia eyes him critically, then looks back to Keith. “I thought it was just going to be you.”

“It was, initially, but… Lance volunteered to come. You know him and what he’s capable of. His presence on this mission will help us in the long run.”

Krolia looks at Keith with knowing yellow eyes, and Keith is suddenly aware that she can see right through him. He averts his gaze and tries to ignore his already present blush.

“Fine. As long as he doesn’t distract you, or anyone else, from completing the mission. No jokes and no funny business. We’re here to work.”

“Yes, sir,” Lance mumbles.

“It appears that you are entering a system close to our current position. It will most likely take you another day or so to reach us. I look forward to seeing you, Yorak.”

The feed cuts out and all that is left is static.

“Dude,” Lance whines, sinking further into his seat. “Your mom _hates_ me.”

Keith snorts. “She doesn’t hate you. That’s just how she is.”

“Hm. I guess I see where you get it now, _Yorak_.”

“Fuck off,” Keith says, but there is humor in his voice as he sits back down and begins to emotionally prepare himself for what will most likely be a month or so of Krolia’s exasperated expressions and Lance… Being himself.

After the incredibly uncomfortable and way-too-revealing conversation they had just had.

Keith resigns himself to the fact that he might actually die.

 

* * *

 

 

They make it to the planet that the coordinates pinpoint, and Krolia is waiting for them in a grassy area cleared out just for the Red Lion to land. She is still ridiculously tall, and purple-skinned, and scary, but when she catches sight of Keith disembarking from the Red Lion a small smile breaks out on her face.

Keith doesn’t know if he will ever get used to having a face to fill the hole in his heart where a mother should have been. It doesn’t help that she is ridiculously alien in appearance.

“My son,” She says, fangs flashing as she claps him on the back with her clawed hand. “It is good to see you again.”

Then her yellow eyes flit to somewhere over Keith’s shoulder, and he realizes that she is probably looking at Lance.

“Red Paladin,” Krolia says, eyes narrowed analytically, but not coldly.

Lance comes up to stand beside Keith and gives Krolia a small wave.

The ruins of the village stand before them. Although there appears to be no immediate danger, everything is destroyed. Houses are collapsed and debris litters the area. Everything is too still; there are no traces of any villagers or wildlife in the area, just other Blade members working on clearing the wreckage.

“We have taken out the last of the Galra rogues and given medical attention to all those who need it,” Krolia begins. “Now our goal is to rebuild the planet’s villages that have been destroyed in the Galra raid and establish a connection from this planet to the coalition.”

“Sounds good,” Lance says, and he’s already taking off, approaching a group of Blade members and beginning to chat them up about their individual missions and how he can best help.

Keith feels Krolia’s eyes on him as he watches Lance.

“How strange,” She remarks in clipped Galran. He can hear the smile in her voice.

“What?” He responds. His accent is a little off but he is familiar enough with the language to be able to comfortably communicate with Krolia.

“You are infatuated.”

Keith whips his head around to face her. “What? I--What are you talking about?” Keith knows that Krolia can tell he is feigning ignorance. He attempts to ignore the furious flush of his cheeks.

She smiles at him. “You know,” She says thoughtfully. “He reminds me of your father.”

“I’m going to leave now,” Keith says. “Bye.”

Krolia laughs, and the sound echoes in his ears like church bells as he walks away.

 

* * *

 

 

It takes a couple of days on the mission before Keith encounters Acxa. She is in the middle of unloading a cargo ship full of supplies when Keith finds her. He greets her with a nod. She nods back. They begin to work side by side, pulling crates off of the ship and stacking them in organized rows.

“I see you have brought the Red Paladin with you,” She says. Her voice is still monotonous and clinical despite her conversational words.

“Yes.”

Acxa hums. “He’s very loud. But… He’s managed to make almost every single one of the Blade members laugh, and it has only been a couple of quintants since he has arrived. I think there is something admirable in that.”

Keith smiles. “Yeah, I think so too. Don’t tell him I said that, though.”

Acxa huffs out a noise that sounds like a laugh.

A silence lapses and Keith continues to grab crates and move them off of the ship.

“You love him,” Acxa states suddenly. Keith chokes on his own spit and nearly drops the box he is holding.

“ _Love_? What--I don’t--Why are you using that word?” Keith splutters, face heating.

Acxa eyes him in confusion. “Isn’t that what humans say, when they care about someone a great deal? I have never felt it, but I imagine--” She pauses, putting down a crate. Her voice softens. “I imagine it must feel nice. I imagine it’s what you must be feeling when you look at him and smile.”

Keith stares at her. Her hair has gotten longer, brushing her shoulders in vibrant violet waves. Her lilac skin glows in the late evening light. Her eyes are softer than he remembers them being, and Keith can’t help but notice just how much she has transformed since the first time he has seen her, when they were in the belly of the Weblum together and the only glimpse Keith had caught of the person beneath the suit was a brief flash of cold yellow eyes.

“I,” Keith says. His throat is dry, suddenly. He averts his eyes. “I… He means a lot to me. I’m trying to figure out how I feel, though. I’m not ready to call it love yet.”

Acxa nods and continues her work. “When you have decided, let me know. I may or may not be in a betting pool with a few other Blade members, concerning the matter of whether or not the two of you will become mates by the end of this mission. I said it would take a little bit longer.”

Keith’s face flushes even more. “The human term is _couple_ , Acxa. We don’t use the word mate.”

Acxa hums noncommittally. “Semantics.”

“You and my mother are going to be the death of me.”

“Hm. You should hear what Krolia says about the two of you when you’re not around.”

“I’m going to die before this mission is complete,” Keith says, resigned. Acxa laughs out loud. It’s the first time Keith has heard her laugh. It’s a pleasant sound.

 

* * *

 

 

“Hey, Loverboy. Eyes on me.”

Lance turns to face Keith, eyes glinting. His forehead is covered in a sheen of sweat.

“You’re thinking too much like a sharpshooter, and not like a swordsman. Your sword is an extension of your arm, not a long-ranged weapon. You’re making it too easy for me to disarm you.”

Lance grits his teeth and hefts his broadsword once more. “I hate it when you talk like that,” He says, and then he’s coming at Keith, thrusting with his sword in a calculated move meant to throw Keith off. Keith sidesteps easily.

“Talk like what?” He blocks when Lance charges at him once again, swinging his sword wildly.

Lance pushes against Keith’s blade with his own, teeth gritted in concentration. “Like you’re better than me.”

Keith spins his blade, flicking his wrist and separating the handle of Lance’s sword from his hand. The broadsword launches into the air and lands in the grass a few feet away. It transforms back into its bayard form in a flash of light.

“I’m not better than you. I’m just better than you at this, because I have had years of training compared to your 6 months. If you challenged me to a sharpshooting contest, I probably wouldn’t even be able to hit the target.”

Lance groans, sinking to the grassy ground and flopping onto his back. “Sword training with you is the worst, though. How many times are you gonna disarm me, man?”

“As many times as it takes for you to not let me,” Keith answers fondly. “Besides, you asked me to train you.”

“A mistake that I regretted as soon as I asked,” Lance mumbles. Keith laughs and stretches a hand out for Lance to take.

“This is only our third training session, and we’re both drained from helping the Blade all day. I don’t expect you to be able to pick this up right away.”

Lance stares at Keith’s hand, reaches up to take it, and then--then he pulls Keith down onto the ground. Keith lands with a yelp and then Lance is on top of him, pinning his wrists in the cool grass of the clearing and smiling something vicious in Keith’s face.

“How about some good old fashioned wrestling, then? Something we’re both good at.”

Keith eyes him. “This is a dangerous game you’re playing, McClain.”

“Then do something about it, Kogane.”

Lance is on his back in a matter of seconds, laughing breathlessly as he grapples with Keith in the dewy yellow grass of the planet. They roll around for a while, and it’s kinda gross because they’re both sweaty, but it’s fun nonetheless. Lance’s hand accidentally brushes against Keith’s side in a very specific way that makes Keith wheeze out a shocked laugh. The next thing he knows, Lance is trying his hardest to tickle Keith because apparently Keith is susceptible to bouts of wheezing when someone pokes him in the soft part of his stomach or the side of his ribs.

 _This is my weakness,_ Keith thinks absentmindedly. He doesn’t know if he’s thinking about his own ticklishness or the way Lance’s hands feel on his body.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Six months have gone by, and they’re still up in space. The mission for the Blade had finished up long ago; and yet afterward when Lance and Keith had entered Red’s cockpit to return home to Earth, neither of them felt satisfied.

“I think,” Keith had said with stuttering breaths. “I think I wanna stay up here.”

And Lance had returned a, “God, me too,” And that was that.

They had called the team back on Earth to tell them the news. Hunk had been devastated, but understanding. Pidge had been angry, but accepting. Shiro had this look in his eyes that told Keith that he knew this was going to happen, but still he smiled and nodded and wished the two of them luck before their video feed cut out.

Now it is just the two of them, flying around to various planets and helping people in need. It’s nice. Keith feels a happiness up here in the stars that he knows he wouldn’t be feeling down on Earth.

He lets the happiness take root in his heart.

 

* * *

 

 

Keith’s hair has gotten long again. It keeps falling into his eyes, and he has to push it out of the way in order to see Lance’s face when he is talking to him. Strands of his hair tickle the back of his neck, and Lance remarks that it looks like he’s growing a mullet again. Keith doesn’t mind.

Keith especially doesn’t mind when Lance reaches over and runs his fingers through the hairs at the nape of his neck.

He lets it grow.

 

* * *

 

 

Keith and Lance start sharing a bed.

It’s just easier that way. At least, that’s what Keith tells himself. It’s easier when they only have one lion and one bed in said lion. It’s easier to just stick together in the same room when they land on foreign planets for the night. It’s easier to make sure that Lance’s nightmares don’t plague him in the early hours of the morning as Keith lays there, awake and tracing the patterns of the scar on Lance’s back with feather-light fingers when Lance trembles.

If Lance wakes up in a cold sweat, shouting a family member or teammate’s name, Keith is there. He wraps Lance’s shaking body up in his arms and coaxes him back to sleep by saying soft words into warmth of his skin  that neither of them mention in the morning.

 

(Lance calls out Keith’s name in his dreams on more than one occasion. Each time, it takes Keith by surprise.

He doesn’t know what it means.)

 

* * *

 

 

It’s the middle of the night, and Keith wakes up from his brief slumber to see Lance perched on the edge of the bed, his back to Keith as his head rests in his hands and he takes in shallow breaths.

“Lance,” Keith mumbles with his sleep-roughed voice, sitting up slowly and resting his head against Lance’s back, right between his shoulder blades. “Are you okay?”

“Why do you like me?” Lance asks. Keith’s sleep-addled brain immediately clears, and he suddenly feels very awake. He sits up all of the way. Lance continues. “I mean. Assuming that you still do--which I understand is a bold accusation, so don’t feel compelled to answer this if you don’t want to, but if you do still like me and if you wouldn’t mind answering--why?”

Keith looks at him, processing the jumble of words that Lance just threw at him.

“At first, I didn’t,” He says slowly.

Lance rolls his eyes as he turns back to look at Keith. His eyes are rimmed with red. “Yeah, no shit. You hated me.”

“No. I never hated you,” Keith corrects, scooting closer to Lance and tentatively taking his hand. Lance lets him. “It just wasn’t love at first sight. I was full of feelings that I didn’t understand, because you were attractive and funny and smart. I didn’t know how to deal with that. I misinterpreted the majority of my feelings as jealousy and competitiveness, but honestly… It was never much of a competition. I think somewhere around the third or fourth time we interacted, I knew that I was a goner for you.”

Lance stares at him. “Wow, Keith,” He says, small smile growing on his face. “I didn’t know you had that much emotional depth.”

“See? This is exactly what I’m talking about,” Keith says, shaking his head. “You say something like that and I should be mad because you just insulted my emotional maturity, right? But you’re handsome when you smile and you’re bright and your sense of humor matches mine so well that I can’t help but fall in love a little bit more.”

Lance’s amused expression falls from his face. “Love?” He asks, eyes wide.

Keith nods. _Love_. He can hear it in Acxa’s monotone voice.

“I,” Lance stutters out. “Nobody’s ever felt that way about me before, Keith. I don’t know if…”

“What?” Keith asks gently.

“I don’t know if I will be able to handle it when you realize that I’m not enough.”

“You’re enough,” Keith squeezes his hand. “You will always be enough. I don’t care if I have to say it every day for the rest of our lives to get it through your thick skull.”

“I might…” Lance pauses, swallows. “I might need you to. To say it, for the rest of our lives. Just in case, y’know, I forget or something.”

“Okay. I’ll be here,” Keith says, tugging on Lance’s hand. “I’ll be here. Come back to sleep, Lance.”

“Okay,” Lance answers softly.

He let’s Keith wrap him up in his arms, and the night continues, enveloping the both of them in a comforting silence.

 

* * *

 

 

One night, they are tangled together. Keith’s face is pressed against Lance’s bare chest, and he can feel the rhythm of Lance’s steady heartbeat, a soft staccato against his cheek.

He doesn’t know when this began.

He never wants it to end.

“Hey, Keith?” Lance whispers in the quiet. Keith’s fingers tap out a message in Galra code on Lance’s skin.

_I love you._

_You are more than enough._

_Your eyes are like stars in the dark._

“Hm?”

“Do you ever… Miss the beginning?”

Keith thinks about it. Thinks about when they were first launched into space with nothing but the clothes on their backs; thinks about retrieving each of the lions; thinks about forming Voltron for the first time; thinks about the relationships he cultivated with each of his fellow paladins and how they developed over the years into something stronger.

He’s tempted to say no, just because of what this journey had cost them. Shiro: an arm and his youth. Allura and Coran: their home planet and their people. Hunk and Pidge: their childhoods.

Lance: a chance at a normal life. A career as a fighter pilot. A life with a loving partner, kids to come home to. A beach house not too far from his childhood home.

He’s tempted to say no. Instead, he tells the truth.

“Yes,” He breathes. “So much.”

He misses piloting Red and hearing Lance’s bantering voice through the comms. He misses when the missions were easy and he didn’t feel the pressure of being a good leader because Shiro was there. He misses coming home to the castle; to his room, and to the training deck, and to the control room where the paneless windows allowed Keith to look out at the stars and planets and all things that glow in the endless expanse of dark space.

“Sometimes I can’t believe that we went through what we went through.” Lance speaks again. His fingers fall on the scar on Keith’s face, tracing it with the pads of his calloused fingers. He’s so gentle and soft and Keith’s heart is swelling with the weight of the gesture.

“I know,” Keith says, and he catches Lance’s hand with his own and brings it to his mouth so that he can place a small kiss the tips of his fingers.

Keith doesn’t know where his bravery comes from. He thinks everything is easier in the dark, because he doesn’t feel as exposed. It’s easier to lay here, body pressed to Lance’s in a warm bed. It’s easier to whisper sweet things to Lance, underneath the weight of the soft blankets. It’s easier to take his hand and kiss it reverently, with all of the love that he never knew he had.

“Hey,” Lance says, voice low. Keith looks up at him.

Lance brings a hand up, brushing the hair away from Keith’s eyes. “I don’t expect you to do anything about it, but I think, if I could, then I would stay out here with you forever.”

Keith stares at him. And stares. Lance’s eyes are still nebulous, even when there is no starlight leaking into his irses to illuminate them.

When he leans up and kisses Lance, it feels so natural, almost as if Keith has been kissing him for years. It’s soft and reassuring, and Lance snakes his arms around Keith’s waist while Keith buries his hands in Lance’s curls, and they kiss. They kiss for what feels like hours; they kiss so deeply and intensely that Keith had to come up for air a couple of times before he dives back down again. He kisses Lance’s cheeks, and his neck, and then his shoulders, and then he comes back up and kisses Lance’s full lips once more, twice more, again and again and again.

Keith parts from Lance eventually, looking down at him through half-lidded eyes with heated cheeks. Lance’s eyes flutter open and his breath catches in his throat as he looks at Keith.

“You’re beautiful,” Lance breathes, words slurred and slow like they’re being spoken through honey and syrup and all things sickeningly sweet.

 _No, I’m not,_ Keith thinks.

 _You don’t mean that_ , Keith thinks.

“I love you,” Keith says instead, truthful and soft as he leans down and nuzzles his face into Lance’s exposed neck.

“I know,” Lance says. It should sound arrogant but it doesn’t; it sounds like Lance taking Keith’s waiting hand and squeezing it tight.

He doesn’t have to say it back.

Keith knows.

 

* * *

 

 

_**New Message Thread** _

_**Yorak - > Acxa** _

 

**Yorak [07:23]**

Unfortunately, you were right. I’m in love.

 

**Acxa [07:27]**

Thank you. I just won 5000 GAC.

The other Blade members say “Congratulations,” by the way.

I’d love to be at the wedding.

 

**Yorak [07:28]**

Of course.

Don’t tell Krolia

 

**Acxa [07:29]**

I apologize in advance, but it is too late. I have already notified her.

She will be calling shortly.

 

**Yorak [07:29]**

Fuck.

Why are we friends again?

 

**Acxa [07:30]**

Because, as the Red Paladin says, I “saved your sorry ass” and you owe me.

Plus, you need other half-Galra friends. Who else are you going to talk to about your fangs when they finally grow in?

Certainly not your human friends, that is for sure.

 

**Yorak [07:32]**

My fangs?

Is that a joke??

 

**Yorak [07:34]**

Acxa?

 

**Yorak [07:39]**

Hello??

 

**Yorak [07:44]**

What the fuck

 

* * *

 

Lance has changed in more ways than one since the start of their journey in space, and each new thing that Keith notices about Lance kills him.

Lance eyes now fold and crinkle when he laughs, and it kills Keith.

Lance’s hair curls beautifully after he washes it, and it kills Keith.

Lance is sprawled out in a field of flowers on some uninhabited alien planet, staring up at the orange skies, and--and his arms and legs are so long and sinewy, and his chest is so broad and muscles so relaxed, and it kills Keith.

Seeing Lance like this also makes Keith sad. Because he isn’t the same boy that Keith had first met all those years ago.

Lance notices Keith staring and quirks a brow. “Babe? You okay?”

“Yeah, I just… You aren’t the same,” Keith says. He is laying down next to Lance, facing him. The grass tickles his nose. It’s dewy and fresh and it smells so sweet.

Lance sits up and looks at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Keith says, sitting up as well. “You’re taller and stronger. You don’t look like a kid anymore. And… And you don’t make the same jokes that you used to. You don’t laugh as much, either. I want to make you laugh again. I miss it.”

Lance stares at him for a good minute. The light from the planet’s three suns hits his face at the prettiest angle, casting all sorts of beautiful warm shadows on Lance’s face.

“C’mere,” He says, opening his arms. Keith crawls over to Lance and Lance wraps him up in a hug, falling back so that they are now both laying in the flower field.

“We all change,” Lance says, slowly, softly. He rubs circles into Keith’s shoulder with his thumb. “You’ve changed in more ways than one, too, y’know. Your hair is shorter now. You don’t wear that red cropped jacket anymore. You don’t scowl as much. And maybe I miss those things, but… I know there will always be some parts of you that will never change, and that makes me feel better.”

Keith hums, brings a hand up to brush along Lance’s jaw. “Like what?”

“Your eyes,” Lance says, looking down at Keith. “Your eyes never change, no matter where we go or what we go through. You have the prettiest, saddest eyes I think I’ve seen, and I can count on that, no matter what. Even if everything else about you changes. Even if you cut off all your hair and stop wearing your stupid red jacket and you start smiling a lot more.”

Keith soaks in Lance’s words tries to swallow around the lump in his throat. “I don’t want to change,” He admits. “I say that I do, but I don’t. I never wanted to leave for the Blade. I never wanted to become Black Paladin. And I never wanted to cut my hair, but I do these things, and I think I’ll be okay after, but I’m not.”

“I know,” Lance says, he reaches up and wipes at Keith’s cheeks, stained with the beginnings of tears. “I know. I’m just as scared as you are, Keith. But we’re still here, and we’re still kicking, and we’re having fun, right? Just me and you against the rest of the universe.”

“Yeah,” Keith sighs out, and he presses his lips to the side of Lance’s neck. “Just you and me.”

A gentle breeze rustles the flowers in the field, making them bend and sway. Petals break off of their stems and join the wind. A couple land in Lance’s hair. He looks like what Keith would imagine an angel looks like: warm and flawless, a perfect mix of hard angles and soft curves.

“We’ll get through this. Just breathe, _mi cielito._ ”

Keith does.

 

* * *

 

 

Allura calls them on one warm summery night.

Keith is laying down, head in Lance’s lap. Lance is running his hand through the hairs at the base of his neck. His hands are broad and his fingers long, and his touch is so gentle as he cards his fingers through Keith’s hair. Keith doesn’t remember the last time someone has been this gentle with him.

Lance is humming some slow song, the only sound in the room. It’s lulling Keith into a trance as he dozes, cheek pressed to Lance’s thigh.

Then Lance’s tablet starts to ring. His hands stop cold. Keith yawns and sits up, looking at Lance’s face.

“Allura is calling,” He says as he stares at the flashing screen, voice unreadable. Keith crowds in closer as Lance swipes at the screen to answer the call.

Allura’s face pops up, and she looks the same as she always has, except for a couple of things. Her hair is short now, brushing her shoulders in tight silvery curls. She wears a jeweled crown on her head, bigger than the last one. Her eyes and her shoulders are stiff with responsibility, but as she looks at the two of them, it begins to melt away.

“Lance, Keith,” She says, pink eyes warm and small smile on her face. “It’s been quite awhile. How are you?”

“Hey, Princess,” Lance says. “I guess I should call you Queen Allura, now. But that just feels weird.”

Allura huffs out a laugh. “Trust me, it feels weird for me, too. I hope you two are well.”

“As well as we can be,” Keith says, giving her a smile.

Lance snorts. “The Rhyxxesi sector isn’t too nice this time of year, but we’re making do,” He says.

Allura’s eyebrows furrow. “The Rhyxxesi sector? Are you not on Earth at the moment?”

Keith and Lance both quiet immediately. Allura’s eyes narrow suspiciously.

Lance laughs nervously. “Well, see, here’s the thing… No.” Keith groans and flops back on the bed.

“And neither of you thought to tell me!” Allura exclaims. “The nerve of you both, I swear on my great grandmother’s Lycerax…”

Lance turns to Keith and mouths, _What’s a Lycerax?_ Keith shrugs in response. He’s given up on trying to decipher old Altean colloquialisms.

“Sorry, Princess,” Lance says, sheepish. “We’re just… Kinda busy? At the moment? We’ve been helping to rebuild planets and establish connections with the coalition from the planets we’ve been visiting.”

“And Coran? Hunk? Shiro? Why haven’t they called and updated me about what is going on?”

Keith sits up again. “That’s probably because they’re still on Earth, and they don’t know where exactly we are at the moment.”

Allura goes silent. She looks at them through the screen for a long moment, and Keith briefly wonders if there is a bad connection or if the video is lagging.

“Are you saying that it is just the two of you?” She asks.

Lance raises an eyebrow. “Yes..?” He says.

“Out in the Rhyxxesi sector, which is known for its beautiful planets and stars? All alone?”

Lance’s eyebrows furrow. “Well, like I said, it’s not too nice this time of year. All the planets are like, always raining. Not that I mind. I like the rain.” He pauses. “What are you hinting at, Princess?”

Allura clicks her tongue. “Nothing important,” She says nonchalantly. “It just seems… Awfully romantic, is all.”

A brief silence ensues. Lance squeezes Keith’s hand.

“Yeah, I’d say it is,” Keith says. “Although I could go without the constant rain. Lance likes it, though.”

Allura looks between the two of them, and then her eyes widen as it clicks. She beams at them. Keith sees Lance’s shoulders relax in his periphery.

“I am happy for you two,” She says. “And I know that no matter where you go, you will be happy. As long as you have each other.”

Lance smiles, gentle and genuine, and it's like a weight that he hadn't known was there has been lifted off of his back. “Thank you, Princess.”

They talk for hours afterward.

 

* * *

 

 

A year passes, and Keith didn’t think it would be possible, but Lance has gotten even taller. He loves to perch his head on top of Keith’s when they stand next to each other, and Keith grumbles about it, but always leans back into Lance’s solid chest.

Lance is now twenty-two and he looks like an adult with his chiseled facial structure and broad back. He’s bypassed the clean-shaven look and instead has decided to let his stubble grow. Keith tells Lance to shave it day after day, but secretly he loves the way it feels against his skin when Lance kisses him silly in the late hours of the night.

Lance has even more scars now, accumulating on his body like thin clouds in the evening sky. A thin scar bisects his eye, cutting a notch into the arch of his eyebrow. His back is a tangle of discolored skin and marks and freckles, and Keith thinks it might be one of the most beautiful things he’s seen. It also makes him sad. He pretends like his kisses will heal the old wounds as he trails his lips across Lance’s skin and silently wishes that Lance will never have to feel pain like the searing heat of an explosion again.

They still encounter the occasional rogue Galra fleet that had defected before Haggar’s defeat. Lance and Keith take them on, just the two of them, because they can, and because they defend the universe for a living, and it’s what they are good at.

When Lance fights, it is the most awe-inspiring thing; every movement he makes is well-timed and well-chosen. He switches through the different forms of his bayards so fluidly that all Keith can see in his peripherals during a fight is the blue blur that is Lance shifting around his enemies. He goes from sniper to broadsword to rifle to dual pistols in such a rapid succession that he makes It look a bit like a dance that he has been rehearsing for years, something practiced and experienced and incredibly good.

Keith fights like how he has always fought. He uses two blades, bayard and luxite, and slashes and parries and blocks and thrusts with all of the power that he has within. Lance tells him that during battle, his eyes turn yellow and his teeth sharpen and that he snarls and growls and yells, just like the Galra do. Keith doesn’t feel the transformation. This is a part of him, now; it had been dormant before, locked away deep inside, but now it is regularly exposed to open air and he indulges his alien instincts with the sinking of his swords into armored flesh.

Half of the time, it feels like he is just going through the motions. The other times, he is painfully aware of his actions, and painfully aware of when the sharp edge of his blade takes another life. His hands shake for hours afterward. He pretends that they don’t, even after all of this time, because he hates Lance seeing him this vulnerable. Lance notices anyway and kisses the knuckles of his fingers to wash the pain away.

Lance has his own stuff, too. He gets this glassy look in his eyes sometimes when it’s the middle of the night and he can’t fall asleep. Keith has to coax him back into slumber with soft words and kisses and touches. Lance responds, because he always does, and curls back around Keith with a well-placed kiss to the back of Keith’s neck, and Keith listens as his breathes even out and his heart rate steadies.

It’s sad, and when this happens Keith feels this cavity in his heart that he desperately wants to fill.

 

* * *

 

 

Not all of it is sad, though.

When they land on planets that are in the middle of their own spring, Lance braids flowers into Keith’s hair. Keith’s hair has grown remarkably over the past year and a half since he has cut it. Lance speculates that it is something to do with his Galra genetics, because there is no way Keith’s hair should be brushing between his shoulder blades already. Keith doesn’t care enough to debate Lance about it. He’s letting his hair grow out this time, anyway.

They land on a cool city-like planet overflowing with technology, not dissimilar to Olkarion, and they explore every inch of it, just the two of them. While there, they stumble into some advanced, clean-looking tattoo shop, and before Keith knows it Lance is being situated in a chair, getting prepped for a tattoo by a gaunt looking alien woman with four arms. Each one of her arms is covered in luminescent ink, creating intricate designs which appear to shift and move along with her.

Lance gets five V-shaped tattoos that line the outside of his right arm, one for each of his team members. Pidge and Allura and Coran and Hunk and Shiro. They glow different colors in the dark.

He gets another one, right over his heart--a red V that pulses in time with his heartbeat. He doesn’t say that it’s for Keith because Keith already knows.

He tells Keith, later, that he got it because Keith loves to put his head there and listen to Lance’s heartbeat as they lay in bed at night.

Keith presses his lips there while Lance is asleep, and lets the kiss linger.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Lance and Keith get married.

It’s not a big ceremony. They’re saving that for when they finally return to Earth and Lance’s entire family can watch as Shiro walks Keith down the aisle and Keith sobs like a baby as Lance delivers his vows with the same bravado and confidence that he goes through life with. Until then, they talk of color schemes and flower arrangements, and how Keith is gonna wear his hair, and what color tux Lance should get, and in the meantime they prepare to get informally wedded on a small planet with purple skies and big, fluffy clouds which swirl around the sky like an impressionist dream.

They stand under an arched gateway made of vines and blooming orange flowers, and hold each others hands firmly as the officiator chants lines in an alien language that neither Lance nor Keith know. The people of the planet watch, enraptured and emotional, because they have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of watching two paladins of Voltron get married to each other. Keith thinks he sees one of them livestreaming the ceremony on their tablet, but he doesn’t say anything.

Acxa and Krolia and Kolivan are seated in the audience. Keith doesn’t remember actually formally inviting them. He thinks Lance may have given them the details. They aren’t wearing their blade uniforms for the first time in years, and seeing the three of them in the long, flowy robes that are customary to this planet is a sight to behold. Acxa looks like she is three seconds from tearing her robes into ribbons with her clawed hands, but she refrains for Keith’s sake. Every time Krolia catches Keith’s eye, she smiles real big. Keith knows that she is thinking of his father.

In this moment, Lance looks beautiful. Keith has always known that Lance is beautiful, but right now he looks perfect, almost god-like. He is glowing in shades of gold in the late-evening sunshine; ochre skin and bronze hair and honeyed eyes. He has dimples in his chiseled stubbled cheeks and his hair is curling endearingly around his ears and his hands are so big and thin and calloused as they hold Keith’s, and Keith wouldn’t change a thing about this. Lance smiles at Keith, something both reassuring and nervous at the same time. His dimples deepen.

As Lance stands there, tall and broad and ethereal, Keith wonders how the entire universe has not fallen in love with him.

That night, after the ceremony ends and the rings are placed upon fingers and Lance and Keith seal their vows with a kiss, they lay in the blue-green grass underneath foreign stars.

“I think I’m ready to go home now,” Keith says in the comfortable silence, squeezing Lance’s hand. Lance turns to look at him with his soft stardewy eyes.

“Okay,” He says, with a small smile. “Me too.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> as always, thank u for reading!  
> -there is no plot to this fic and the ending is a little abrupt so i apologize for that oops  
> -idk if i will ever stop writing allura being supportive of lance and keith's relationship  
> -acxa was a fun character to explore. her and keith are best friends and also peak mlm/wlw solidarity  
> -s8 is less than a week away and i am. emotional, to say the least. if the season upsets u, know that u can always come talk to me. my ask box is always open on tumblr!  
> comments and kudos are very much appreciated! i will try to respond to any comments! owo  
> talk to me on my tumblr [@etherja](https://etherja.tumblr.com/) also follow my twitter [@rosedvst](https://twitter.com/rosedvst/) if u want updates on the next fic im working on!


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